“Usually, the marble sculptures from the Hellenia era are somewhat dull gray, but this one is a really lovely pink.”

The merchant from Porto seemed confident.

“I have nothing more to say about the ‘Victoria Nike’! It is a masterpiece from the Hellenia era recently excavated from the ruins of the northern city of Rastera! The very statue mentioned in Herodotus’ ‘Hellenia Travels’! Let’s get started!”

The merchant from Porto excitedly announced the start of the auction.

“The starting price is 1,200 ducats (approximately 1.2 billion won)―!”

The crowd buzzed. Those who were there to buy, and those who came just to watch were intrigued.

“Wait a moment, isn’t the starting price lower than expected?”

“Right? Why is such a wellpreserved item starting so cheap?”

“If you can just win the auction, isn’t it a total bargain? Who’s going to get it?”

Ariadne didn’t really care. She vaguely remembered that Duke Valdesar was the one who won the auction.

“Or was it the Marquis?”

Ariadne tilted her head and grabbed another cookie. She hadn’t seen anyone from Duke Valdesar’s entourage in the crowd today.

She remembered the auction itself because it was so entertaining, but some of the details had faded with time.

“Does anyone want to bid?”

At the merchant’s call, a man sitting at the very front and center of the hall raised his hand.

“I’ll bid.”

It was Prince Alfonso, with his golden hair and the royal purple cloak, a symbol of royalty.

Ariadne almost spat out the cookie she was eating.

‘Why are you there!’

Unaware of Ariadne’s turmoil, the Prince calmly raised his hand, and the auctioneer counted down.

“The opening bid has been made! But isn’t it a shame to let such a precious item go at the opening bid? Is there anyone else?”

The crowd buzzed, but no one else was bidding.

“Let’s start the countdown!”

“5!”

“4!”

“3!”

“2!”

“1,300 ducats!”

A hand raised in the corner of the hall, and a middleaged man’s voice shouted the bid.

“Who is it! …Oh, it’s Count Marcellus! We have a bid of 1,300 ducats!”

‘Ahh, it’s been reduced by ten years.’

Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief. She was extremely relieved that someone had bid.

But she was very confused. Count Marcellus’ family was a longestablished and prestigious one in the capital, but to her recollection, they were definitely not the ones who won the “Victoria Nike” auction.

‘Was it Valdesar? Or was it the Marquis? Whoever it is, where on earth are you!’

Ariadne looked around the hall, but she couldn’t see anyone from either Duke Valdesar’s or Marquis’ family anywhere.

The notion that causality could change due to one’s actions had always been something she had taken into consideration. For example, she believed that if she had obstructed the apostle of Asareto, it was quite possible that the power structure within the papal court could change.

The prospect of a bishop who was due for promotion being demoted, the power of his family weakening due to his demotion, his rival families becoming more prominent, and the butterfly effect leading to changes in completely unrelated places, were all part of Ariadne’s calculation or resolution.

However, she hadn’t anticipated that something would change due to a trivial, unrelated matter at this early stage, when the papal court hadn’t even officially announced personnel changes.

Ariadne could never have dreamt that the stroll she had taken in the garden with Prince Alfonso in the morning had disturbed the prince’s heart to the point that he impulsively bid at the auction.

Prince Alfonso, oblivious to Ariadne’s speed, followed Count Marcellus’s bid and made a rebid.

“1500 Ducato!”

“1500 Ducato on the table―!!! Any other bids―!!”

The shrill cry of the Porto merchant filled the hall. Spectators uninvolved in the race clutched their hands in excitement.

“1600!”

“1700!”

The race between Prince Alfonso and Count Marcellus for the “Victoria Nike” was tense. Neither seemed willing to give up the “Victoria Nike”.

Alfonso cried out boldly.

“2000 Ducato!”

At that moment, Ariadne’s gaze, which had been desperately scanning the hall while the competition unfolded, finally caught Marquis and Lady Marquis.

The Marquis, who wanted to bid, was being stopped by the Lady Marquis at his side.

‘Indeed, Lady Marquis is the closest confidant of Queen Margaret…!’

A missing puzzle piece suddenly clicked into place, and memories cascaded.

The Marquis house had won the piece in her previous life. She remembered the unnecessarily grand pedestal where the statue was placed after they had demolished the fountain in front of the main entrance.

In this life, it was a miscalculation that Prince Alfonso, out of the blue, had bid on the “Victoria Nike”.

The Marquis’s wife, close to the queen, seemed to be convincing her husband not to bid on the “Victoria Nike”, allowing Prince Alfonso, the son of Queen Margaret, to win the bid.

Although it was delicate loyalty, she couldn’t let it be.

“No, the Marquis family needs to buy it.”

As Ariadne murmured to herself and was about to sneak away to stop the Lady Marquis…

“Why would it be a problem if Prince Alfonso bought that piece, little lady?”

Count Cesare, who had been watching the auction with his hat pulled down all the while, started a conversation. Ariadne turned to look at him with wide eyes.

Even before she could scold him, Count Cesare raised his voice and boomed throughout the hall.

“This little lady here says that it’s a piece that shouldn’t be bought, what do you think, Vincenzo Del Gato from the Republic of Porto?”